Villagers rescue 43 foreigners

DEHRADUN: Villagers from Didsari near Uttarkashi, whose houses were washed away, rescued 43 foreigners stuck in the Himalayas for over a week. The tourists from the US, UK, Sri Lanka and other nations were there to participate in a 'Himalayan retreat'.

"We're alive because of the villagers. They saw us struggling to get out of the centre up on the hills and came to help though they themselves struggled for food, water and shelter," said Catherine from Canada, one of the survivors. She said 40% houses in Didsari villages were washed away.

The foreigners arrived at the Uttarkashi Tapovan - a yoga centre — on June 14. "On June 16, we saw the bridge — the only link between the town and the hilly region — washed away. The water scaled up the ashram's steps. We were scared. Some stayed up all night to check the water level. The villages lower down were badly hit," said Anjali Mehta, an NRI from the US. She said they contacted embassies of the US, Brazil and Canada and others to send helicopters. Nothing helped. Some of them then climbed down towards the village.

"Ram, Kuldeep, Shikhar were the boys who came to help with their families. Some of the boys trained at the National Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) helped us walk down the steep slope to the Maneri helipad," said Mehta. The tourists now plan to help the villagers financially and with rations. "When we left, some said they had only two days of ration left," said a tourist. NIM's principal Col Ajay Kothiyal said these trained locals had so far rescued 6,000. "They know how to fix ropes, create new tracks etc to bring down people, especially old and sick."

Guard of honour for 20 bravehearts who died in Uttarakhand chopper crash

DEHRADUN: Home minister SushilkumarShinde led the nation in paying tributes to the twenty bravehearts, who died in Tuesday's chopper crash while rescuing stranded people in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.

Shinde, tourism minister K Chiranjeevi, Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, Army chief Gen Bikram Singh, senior officials of Army, Air Force, ITBP and NDMA paid their respect to the personnel at a special function organised by the Uttarakhand government and NDMA.

The 'guard of honour' — a ceremonial mark of respect — to the 5 Air Force, 6 ITBP and 9 NDRF personnel was led by Shinde.

The NDRF personnel were from ITBP on deputation to NDRF. Those killed in the chopper crash included Wg Cdr Darryl Castelino, Flt Lt K Praveen, Flt Lt Tapan Kapoor, JWO A K Singh, Sgt Sudhakar Yadav (all IAF).

The men from NDRF who died were commandant Nitya Nand Gupta, inspector Bhim Singh, sub inspector Satish Kumar, constables K Vinaygan, Bassavaraj Yaragatti, Santosh Kumar Paswan, Sanjiva Kumar, Shashi Kant Ramesh Pawar and Ahir Rao Ganesh.

Six ITBP personnel who lost their lives were commandant Nand Ram, sub inspector Jayender Prasad, constables Jomon P G, Bibhuti Roy, Sarvesh Kumar and Ajay Lal.

The sophisticated Mi-17V5 helicopter of IAF had crashed in bad weather during a rescue mission in the flood-ravaged hill state.

Shinde said the nation would not forget the supreme sacrifice of these 20 brave men who gave their lives while rescuing thousands of people in the Uttarakhand floods.

"The guard of honour to the 20 bravehearts is a little step from our side to remember their supreme sacrifice for the service of the nation. We offer our prayer to all those who lost their lives," he said.

pictures from operation surya hopes

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SSA scheme: Students to get uniforms free of cost in Goa

Panaji: For the first time in Goa, around 25,000 school students would be provided two pairs of uniforms free of cost under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA).

The students are from SCs, STs and below poverty line families, SSA Goa project director Minanath Upadhye told.

This would be in addition to the Goa government's programme under which students in the government-run schools are provided a set of uniform.

Around 1,019 government primary and middle schools would be covered under this ambitious scheme, for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 80.63 lakh, Upadhye said.

The SSA officials have decided to route the fund through School Management Committees (SMCs), which will decide on the purchase and distribution of the uniforms.

"As per SSA guidelines, uniforms are to be distributed at SMC level and not by inviting tenders at the centralised level," Upadhye said.

As many as 15,921 students would be provided two pairs of uniforms, while 8,473 students from Class I-III, who are already getting uniform from the state government, would be provided with an additional pair, he said.

During this academic year, the SSA has also provided free text books for 1.37 lakh students in primary and upper primary schools.

A total of 65,358 students from primary and 71,773 from upper primary schools ? government and aided ones -- would be provided free text books, Upadhye added.

PTI

Gas-based fertiliser plant at Ramagundam

Hyderabad / New Delhi: The Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday thanked the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for agreeing in principle for the removal of FCI's (Fertiliser Corporation of India) Ramagundam Plant from the BIFR's (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) list of sick industries and for initiating action for its revival. The Government of India agreed in principle to establish a gas-based Fertiliser Plant at Ramagundam Plant with an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crs with latest technology.

It may be recalled here that recently a high-level delegation under the leadership of Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu along with Karimnagar MLA and people's representatives from Karimnagar District met the Chief Minister and urged him to pursue this issue with the Government of India. The Chief Minister repeatedly requested the Government of India for the establishment of the plant at Ramagndam. The Chief Minister also requested the Centre to lay gas pipeline from KG Basin to Y Jaypore of Gujarat via Kataram, Karimnagar District to supply gas to the proposed plant.

It may be mentioned here that during 1992 under Sick Industries Companies Act, this plant was referred to BIFR. The BIFR declared it as a sick industry. It was a coal-based fertiliser plant, first of its kind in Asia and provided employment to 1,500 people directly producing 1,500 tonnes of urea per day.

The proposed gas-based plant will be established jointly by National Fertilisers Ltd, Engineers India Ltd and FCI. The Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu thanked the Chief Minister, Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.

Australia extends help to check pollution in Ganga river

KOLKATA: To save the Ganga from industrial pollution, the Victorian government in Australia is preparing an eco-friendly business model for tanneries, which discharge effluents into the river.

Experts from 'Sustainability Victoria', an Australian agency working on environmental issues in the state of Victoria, would visit India next month to kick-start the Tannery Waste Management Programme from Kanpur.

"The idea was given to us by IIT-Kanpur which will act as our local partners in the project. We will lend our expertise in finding a sustainable and viable solution to safe disposal of waste discharged by tanneries," CEO of Sustainability Victoria, Stan Krpan told during a visit to the city.

Funded through the Australian development 'AusAID', the project aims to clean the river that is one of the five most polluted rivers in the world today.

Krpan said that experts from the agency would explore social, environmental and technical solutions for Kanpur's tannery industry to provide it a sustainable basis.

"We will prepare a road map for the tannery industry by looking at all angles including finding a technical solution for waste management, community engagement for saving the river and regulatory issues as well," the official said.

It is envisaged that successful outcomes of this work in Kanpur will be replicated in other parts of the Ganga basin.

Under extreme pollution pressure, the Ganga river faces significant threats to its biodiversity, environmental sustainability, and both the quantity and quality of its flow.

Saina Nehwal jumps to third spot in badminton rankings

New Delhi: A quarterfinal finish at the Singapore Super Series helped ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal climb a place to the third position at the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) women's singles ranking released today.

The London bronze medallist had dropped to the fourth place after failing to defend her title at the Indonesian Super Series Premier but a last eight finish at Singapore last week enabled her to achieve 73510 points and reach the third spot.

The 23-year-old Indian had been enjoying her career-best ranking of world number two since March this year but her failure to defend her titles in Thailand and Indonesia saw her slip to the fourth place.

Malaysia Open winner P V Sindhu, who missed three back-to-back tournaments in June because of an knee injury, was steady at the 12th position, while rising shuttler Arundhati Pantawane gained 10 places to reach the 49th spot.

Chinese duo of Li Xuerui (87713.42) and Yihan Wang (74655.77) holds the first and second position in the ranking.

In men's singles, a dip in performance reflected in Parupalli Kashyap's ranking as he slipped two places to the 13th spot. The Indian lost in the first round in Indonesia and Singapore.

RMV Gurusaidutt and Ajay Jayaram improved one place each to reach the 22nd and 24th positions in the men's singles ranking. B Sai Praneeth gained five places to reach a career-best ranking of 40, while Thailand Grand Prix Gold champion K Srikanth also jumped a place to the 41st spot. Sourabh Verma was static at 37th place.

Women's doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa jumped four places to reach the 28th spot.